Locking the Pokeballs on my belt tightly, I waved goodbye to the dozing Persian and opened the door. Three days after visiting Whitney in the hospital, three days and I still couldn't help her with what she's currently dealing with. The experience she had in Ilex Forest had gotten to her, that much I already knew but just how much it affected her? That went way over my head with a loud 'whoosh'.

I heard the sound of something creaking and looked downward to see that my grip on Grimer's Pokeball is tight enough to make it bend. I let go and tried to calm myself down by circulating psychic energy, seconds turned into minutes before I could finally say that I was calm.

Wary of where I was stepping into, I looked around, I was still in our neighbourhood but that doesn't mean that I could just play lax. Back when I visited Whitney, she told me that the Executive that attacked her said that he wanted to exchange her for someone after she's been kidnapped and I had a small, distinct feeling that told me I knew who she was going to be exchanged for.

At the thought of that, my mind went back to my trip back in Union Cave, about how eventul everything was as well as how it all ended.

I attacked a Rocket hideout, I wasn't stupid. I also knew that the reason why she's been targeted may be because of that but I don't want to throw a pity party for myself until I actually confirm it. Whitney's Dad was a Gym Leader, and that title came with benefits as well as drawbacks, I can't be too sure and say that she was targeted because of me.

Sure, I've been encountering their grunts for a while now, and even way before Whitney got attacked but that doesn't really mean anything does it?

"of course it means something," I scolded myself as I passed through the gate, I grabbed all three Pokeballs from my belt and released my Pokemon. All three looked at me, I looked back, smiling and they replied in their own little ways- Grimer, ever since he's started to change had only returned my smile during these short exchanges, giving out a softer, more subued version of his own. He also no longer said his name happily.

"ZUBAT!" thankfully, his role as a happy go lucky Pokemon had been replaced by our newest member and despite having a hard time moving her mouth, Zubat tries her best to put out a smile of her own. I reached out a hand and rubbed her head. I know she enjoys it. It took a little while for her to treat me like I wasn't a dangerous bomb ready to go off but all in all, those nights spending time walking around with her and exploring our house had been worth it.

I turned to my left and looked at a red, humanoid Pokemon with a duckbill for a mouth. Magby is as serious as he was in the day I found him. He the type to not focus on anything else other than getting stronger and lately, I've even heard that the training Kangaskhan has been putting him into has increased in intensity. He liked it, of course.

Little masochist.

"let's get going?" was the only real formality that I can say to him without making it look as if I've dissapointed him- something that he's been quite concerned lately thanks to the Grunts heading our way whenever they get the chance. It only got worse after Whitney was attacked.

And right on cue, his eyes thankfully lit up just as I was finished thinking about his reaction going the otherway around. He breathed out a small flick of a flame out of his mouth and started walking, his face serious as he scanned the area outside the gate. In reaction, both Grimer and Zubat reacted by rolling his eyes and flying off into the sky respectively. Despite the uncaring demeanour of Grimer and the lax attitude of Zubat when it comes to protecting me, I knew that the two of them meant well.

...

I managed to reach Goldenrod city without any problems this time around. I didn't encounter a trainer that wanted to battle, a Rocket Grunt, nothing.

Walking along the streets, I took note of all the things that piqued my interest, I had a full day to myself and I'm planning on making use of it after I meet up with Klaus and the others, and scanning for places that I want to go to later sounds good. My eyes wandered over to a shop that sold toys, I thought that buying the Dragonite plushie that's displayed on the front of the shop wasn't so bad.

I'll see later though.

Forty minutes of walking later and I arrived in front of the diner that we were supposed to meet at. I gave the two story building a once over, red and white walls were a contrast to each other yet didn't do anything to reduce the appeal of the front of the building. That and large windows on the second story that showed the people eating inside were the things that stood out the most to me. There's also the menu that had been printed on the windows of the first floor that blocked the view inside.

Going in let me know that this was only the case for anyone looking outside the building because from where I was standing, I could perfectly see the street.

Searching for Klaus and the rest was relatively easy, with the former being a bit too loud and the other being an extreme opposite that Klaus did not at all mind as he continued to talk without reserve, I could see Clark nodding from time to time as I walked over to them. When I was close enough, I could see that the topic was about Pokemon battles and I couldn't help it, I started injecting my opinions on the matter, "-and that's what I'm telling your right? that the entire thing is supposed easy right? and all you need to do is to actually make your Pokemon use all the right moves!"

It was a fairly standard conversation between children my age all things considered.

"you're not wrong you know?" I took a seat right next to Klaus, the boy jumping from my sudden appearance, "about the whole easy part," I nodded at Clark and he nodded back, I continued.

"exactly! that's what I've been saying! see?! Lionel agrees!" Klaus practically yelled, now completely ignorant to my presence as he continued his "rant".

"and I didn't say anything," the other boy replied calmly,

"and I think that's a problem," crossing his arms, Klaus huffed, "you should talk more. Anyway, Lionel, what are you going to eat?"

Going with the flow, I turned my head to the menu on the bottom of the counter, "I think I'll buy... I guess a hotdog sandwich?" I turned to Klaus, "you?"

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"guess I'll have the same," he said.

In the end, all three of us bought the same food and as we waited, Klaus started another topic to talk about. He started with something related to Pokemon care by saying that he was planning on buying an entire bag of Pokefood with the flavor of Pecha berries because his Hoot-Hoot likes them and the conversation devolved from there, going from the relatively normal topic of what kind of food our Pokemon prefer (Zubat and Grimer likes Chesto-flavored stuff, Magby likes... anything really, meanwhile Clark's Pokemon likes regular, bland Pokefood,) - to the amount of battles we've had to eventually, the painful topic of the Rocket attacks that I've been through.

It started off normal, with Klaus asking about why I was complaining about Team Rocket three days ago in school and then I answered that it's because they've been attacking me and that led to the current situation: "are you sure that Whitney wasn't attacked because of you?"

My feeling of deflating must've been more physical than I thought because Klaus corrected himself immediately, "not that you're responsible for all that of course!" he raised both of his hands, "not saying anything,"

"huh, so you can not be insensitive after all..." Clark looked at him as if he grew a second head,

"of course I can!" he threw back, "what- what makes you think that I'm insensitive?!" he stuttered in a fit of self awareness.

"I guess you're just like that?" I said,

"right..." his eyes narrowed, then he let them go and he looked at me in concern, "so... about the Rocket thing... you- can you talk about them?"

"sure, I guess," I shrugged, "most of the time it's just a bunch of Grunts sent my way, they're relatively harmless with un-evolved Pokemon but the latest one that came after Whitney's attack was carrying a fully evolved Slowbro and I think it'll only go up from here,"

"so they were sandbagging?" was Clark's opinion.

I nodded, "I think so," I tapped the table, "either that or they were getting my guard down so that they can attack..." I held back a wince, I sighed, it couldn't be that so no one would get suspicious of their "surprise attack",- "okay, so maybe I'm partially responsible for what happened to Whitney," and I think she knew it too.

"wasn't that obvious?" Klaus asked, Clark growned.

"I guess I just wanted to ignore it?" was my uncertain answer, "I mean, I don't know about you but I just wasn't sure if it was because of me?"

"none of what you said makes any sense,"

I slumped, "yeah, that's fair."

The food arrived shortly after I said that and up until I was halfway through eating my food, Clark put down his sandwich and spoke, "so what happened to her?"

I looked up, "hm?"

"what happened after the attack?"

"well Whitney got hospitalized," I said, starting with the most obvious, "and while inside, she thought of a few things that I swear would've made her father livid but as far as I'm aware, he didn't react," that was what actually happened after Whitney told everyone around her that she didn't want to be a Pokemon trainer and wanted to be a Breeder instead, to this day, I was sure that the Gym Leader didn't get up there and scolded her.

I blinked myself out of my thoughts and saw that Clark was waiting for the other pieces of the story, from the corner of my eye, I saw a silent Klaus listening. I shook my head and continued, "anyways, Whitney decided that she wanted to be a Breeder instead, I didn't ask her why though, the answer seemed pretty obvious,"

"I guess," Clark nodded with Klaus involuntarily following in panic shortly after.

...

"what did you call me for?" I sat down right next to Vhira.

She stayed silent, choosing to look at the sunset instead. When she called me from my Pokewatch to tell me that she wanted to talk about something and that to meet up with her in Route 34, I didn't really expect for her to just stay silent. She did sound pretty eager in the call earlier...

I felt slightly suspicious and my eyes wandered over to the Scizor standing a few feet away from us. The Pokemon looked alert, it's body positioned in a way that it could look around without moving whilst also being perfectly positioned that he can jump towards us in a moments notice.

"she said she saw this place from her spot you know?" my eyes darted to her form when she finally spoke and from her tone, I... started to look at her more, observing all the little details that I missed when I just here after I arrived- I noticed that there were bags under her eyes and her cheeks had barely visible red streks lining them. She shook her head and cleared her throat, "I heard that you picked the spot for her camp with her,"

I nodded, realizing now that she was talking about the clearing, "uh, yeah?.." I scratched the back of my head, "I thought that it was the perfect place for her to stay in, since Dad uses it whenever he spends the night in Ilex Forest, it's visible from here I think?" I looked back to where I knew the spot should be in and-

SLAP

I stopped and touched my cheek, Scizor didn't move so everything was clearly fine but- "you okay?" the words I was about to say got stuck in my throat. Seeing Vhira cry pulled on my heart strings and I didn't know how to react, what was I supposed to say?

"that was for turning her into a target in the first place," she said, wiping her cheeks, "and this-" she turned into a brown blur and I felt her body collide against mine, she hugged me tightly and it was only because of that, that I noticed that she was shaking, "is for helping her pick a spot that's in perfect view for the Rangers and teachers staying in Route 34,"

"I-" her words finally caught up- I turned Whitney into a target...

"I'm sorry," my body sagged, Vhira's hugged tighter and her head swayed back and forth, wetting more of my clothes, "I- I didn't-"

"just shut up, okay?" I involuntarily nodded.

Silence descended and Vhira's cries reached an all time high. Her voice was muffled by my clothes but that only made me even more aware on just how loud she was crying.

Time passed and Vhira is now sitting away from me, enjoying the sunset on the horizon.

I looked at her, and I mean really looked at her, fully aware of what and who she is: She was wearing a thick, hood-less woolen jacket that made her look larger than she was, beneath that were pants, long, leather, and green, perfect for the grass of Route 34 as well as colored exactly like her hair, which was underneath a Tammie Hat that obscured the upper part of her head yet allowed the rest of her hair to freely flow below.

And flow they did, waving around as the salty air of the sea brushed passed.

I pulled my eyes away from her, "I don't think I can keep talking to you," I told her and she stayed silent, "I think we should just go away from each other," I heard her huff loudly, a sigh? I continued, "so I guess this is-"

She tackled me before I can stand up and we both fell down on the grassy dirt, a roll away from falling down on the sea side cliff, "and what?" she asked, "let Team Rocket kidnap us?" she flicked my nose, "Lionel, you're psychic right?" I nodded, "can you read minds?" I shook my head, she sighed in relief, that allevated some of the red in her cheeks, "good, because that's not the argument that I'm about to say to you- I tried to move but she hugged me tighter, "so you know how Alakazam is smart because he's right?"

I nodded, "then how can you be so effing stupid?"

I blinked, then chuckled because I didn't want to laugh, "what?" I said with humor and she did her best to put up a frown, "you tackled me for that?"

Vhira pursed her lips, "no, I tackled you because you were about to do something very stupid!" she slammed her forehead on my chest, I wheezed, "you deserve that,"

"I- I do?" she nodded,

"yes," then she let me go, "because how can you not realize that'll only put us in even deeper danger?" was her question,

"what do you mean?" I rubbed my chest,

"you do realize that Team Rocket knows you'll come forward to help us when we get kidnapped right? even if you cut all contact?" she said that with a tone that asked if I was stupid.

I shook my head, "no," I said softly,

"well you should,"

"I guess I do deserve it after all huh?" I said, rubbing my aching chest still,

"it hurt for me too,"